Operating and locking sunshade



Aug. 5, 1941. E. L. REED EI'AL OPERATING AND LOCKING SUNSHADE Filed June 17, 1939 .2 Sheets-Shea; l

F/PA NCES P550 F/G. 461-50 WARD L/PEED INVENTOR BY ATTORNEY E. L. REED EI'AL.

OPERATING AND LOCKING SUHSHAQE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 17, 1939 FQA N058 p. 0 550 50 MP0 L. 0550 INVENTOR B%v ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 5, 1941 OFFICE OPERATING AND LOCKING SUN SHADE Edward L. Reed and Frances P. Reed, Oklahoma City, Okla.

Application June 17, 1939, Serial No. 279,619

1 Claim.

The invention relates to an improvement in novel sunshades or the like constructed of a plurality of louvers pivoted on one or more angle irons attached to the outside of screens manually operated by actuation of a connecting bar attached to rear of each louver in cooperation with a toothed rack bar.

An important object of our invention is the provision of a manually adjustable awning,

screen, sunshade or Window closure adapted to be quickly and easily mounted or dismounted with respect to a window or wall opening and which includes a frame, a plurality of louvers pivotally and adjustably mounted with respect to said frame, a member connecting said louvers to cause the same to operate in unison, and novel means for manually and selectively actuating and operating said. louvers to or from any one of numerous positions thereof. A

A further important object of our invention is the provision of novel means for actuating and operating a plurality of louvers pivotally mounted with respect to a window frame or opening comprising a tooth rack bar, a pinion and shaft and an exposed accessible manually grippable handle member on the outer end of said shaft whereby rotation of said handle member will permit opening and closing movements of said louvers.

A further important object of our invention is the provision of novel means associated with a window closure having a plurality of pivotally mounted louvers means for manually moving'said louvers from a remote point, as for example from the interior of a wall or of a window frame, and

further to provide novel means and mechanism to transmit movement imparted to a shaft movable from within a building wall to aplurality of louvers to replace the same in any one of a plurality of desired positions.

A further object of our invention is the provision of novel mechanism and device adapted to transmit manual movement from the interior of a wall or window frame to points in nonalignment with the manually movable element and to move and adjust a plurality of pivotally mounted louvers into any one of a plurality of desired positions.

On the drawings:

Fig. l is a side or edge elevation of the preferred form of our invention, and having portions of the frame broken away to show the manually operated mechanism.

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of the metal device of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the louver connecting bar, rack bar and pinion taken on line 33 of Fig. 1. V

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary and side elevational view of the mechanical means for operating the louver-connecting bar and louvers, and having parts broken away.

Fig. 4a. is an enlarged side elevational view illustrating the handle member, the shaft on which it is mounted, and the mounting means and locking means in desired position.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged front elevational view of the locking plate 4 locking the mechanism against movement.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view illustrating one form of means and mechanism for transmitting manual movement from the interior of a wall or window casement to pivotally mounted louvers or the like substantially as herein described.

Fig. 7 is a partially side elevational view and partially cross sectional view taken on line 1-4 of Fig. 6 and showing the handle, shaft, gear and pinion thereon.

Fig. 8 is a side elevational view of the gear housing, showing the cover thereof removed, said gears being part of the means for transmitting movement from one to another of a pair of nonaligned shafts.

Referring to the drawings, reference numeral l designates a manually actuable handle, preferably made of metal, which is suitably secured on the inner projecting end of a shaft 2, which is horizontally mounted and journalled for rotation in a horizontally extending passage of a screen frame 8 and in a substantially central aperture of a metal plate 9, which plate is secured to one side member of a rectangular metal frame 80. by suitable screws or the like, and substantially in the manner illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2.

Reference numeral 3 designates a sprocket or pinion gear which is secured substantially upon an inner end of the shaft 2 illustrated in Figs. 1, 3 and 4a., said sprocket or pinion gear 3 being Within the planes of the inner and outer surfaces of the screen frame 8 and metal frame 8a. Metal frame 8a, which is preferably of rectangular form as illustrated, is adapted to be of any suitable size in order to be mounted by any suitable fastening means upon the exterior of a window casement or upon a screen frame. Said metal frame 8a may be formed as an integral unit or of a plurality of side and end members suitably secured together, and the side members of said frame 8a have pivotally mounted therebetween in substantial parallelism a plurality of spaced apart louvers designated by reference numeral 6. Said louvers 6 are pivotally mounted by means of suitable rivets or projections or equivalent means so as to permit opening and closing thereof to any desired position, said louvers being of substantially rectangular shape and of such size so that when closed, the entire frame will form a complete closure for the window or other wall opening, the closed, position thereof being illustrated in Fig. 2. Each of said louvers have their opposite ends bent angularly and downwardly at substantially right angles to form downwardly extending ends 6:1 a indicated in Fig. 1.

The louvers 6 are pivotally mounted to the plate connecting bar 5 by a plurality of suitable rivets 5a respectively, and in positions so that movement of bar 5 will maintain the respective louvers 6 in parallel relation. A metal rack 4 having suitable integral rack teeth as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 3 is riveted by a pair of rivets 4a to the movable bar 5 as indicated in Fig. 3, and the position of said rack bar is such that it will mesh with the sprocket or pinion gear 3; whereby rotation of the handle I and shaft 2' will cause vertical movements of the connecting bar 5 to correspondingly move the louvers 6 to any one of theplurality of desired positions.

Fig. 4a illustrates one of the mounted positions of shaft land handle I with respect to the side member ofa windowframe or sash wherein it is desirable or necessary that a substantially longer shaft 2 be utilized in order to have the manual control of the louvers from within the interior of the building. This illustrated form utilizes the shaft 2 substantially longer and of suflicient length so that it may project into and through, the sidev member of the sash frame 8 or of the stationary wall itself, and to operate the louvers in the samemanner as described and illustrated with reference to Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive. In order that the louvers may be mounted and held in the desired position, as for example, against the gravity action of the louvers them selves; we provide a disk-like lock plate lfl' having an integral apertured ear Illa and an integral grippable angularly extending handlle IOU as clearly shown in Fig. 5, and which look plate is also shown in edge elevation in Fig. 4a. Said locking, plate I0: is secured by a suitable rivet, screw or thelike'which acts as a pivotal mounting upon the plate 9. Said locking plate I!) is provided with the opening lUc which terminates in a. rectangular recess Hid as clearly illustrated in Fig. 5.. When shaft 2 is to be rotated to move the louvers to desired position, it rotates within the circular opening, we; and as shaftZ is of rectangular cross section, downward pivoting movement of the locking plate 10 will cause the rectangular recess llld to engage and lock the shaft. 2 against rotation to thereby hold the louvers in the desired position.

In order to make provision for remote manual control from within the interior of relatively thick. window easements or walls, we have provided' the louver-operating mechanism and means illustrated'in Figs. 6, 7 and 8, which we will now describe. Shaft 20 in this form is of substantially'greater length than that illustrated in Fig.

1' andi's journalled. for rotation in a suitable passage of the innermost member I8a of a window frame assembly l8, and has mounted on its innermost end the pinion gear l5, as indicated in Fig. 7. A- substantially rectangular metal casing or housing IBis mounted in substantially the position illustrated in Fig. 6 and in a plane substantially perpendicular to the shaft 20, and includes a removable cover I 6a which forms one wall thereof. Said metal casing or housing l6 and its cover lBa is provided with three suitably spaced apart apertures I611 extending through the cover and the opposite fiat wall. The shaft 2a projects through one pair of said apertures lGb adjacent to one end thereof, the gear l5 being mounted on shaft 2 within casing l6 and adapted to rotate within the casing l6 as illustrated in the drawings.

The gear M has central oppositely extending ends forming stub shafts 19 as indicated, which are journalled for rotation and centrally located within the two registering apertures I61) and in mesh with the gear [5 as indicated in Fig. 8.

A shaft 2b has one end journalled in the two registering apertures I6b adjacent to the opposite end of the metal housing I 6 and is also journalled for rotation in a suitable metal plate 9a which is secured by suitable screws or the like upon the side member of a conventional screen window frame 8a illustrated at the left of Fig. 8. As shown in- Fig. 6 shaft 2b has mounted thereon the outer pinion gear 3 which is adapted to engage a rack 4, which in turn is mounted upon the louver connecting bar 5 as hereinbefore described. The gear I3 is securely mounted on the shaft 217 for rotation within the housing l6 and in mesh with intermediate idler gear l4.

Reference numeral l1 (Figs. 6 and '7) designates a metal keeper member which is secured about the metal casing I6 in perpendicular relation thereto, and said keeper member is provided with suitable apertures and is secured to a portion of the window casement or frame l8 to thereby securely mount the casing 16 in desired position.

It will be apparent from the description and illustration of this mechanism for transmitting manual movement from a remote non-aligned point that rotation of the handle I and shaft 211 in a given direction will cause corersponding rotation of the transmission gears or gears and shaft 2b to thereby transmit the desired manually actuated movement to the rack 4 and to louver connecting bar 5 to'mount the louvers in any one of a number of'positions.

It will be apparent that the invention illustrated in Figure 8 permits mounting of the manual actuable handle and shaft in any one of numerous positions to accommodate various and differing requirements.

We are aware that various changes may be made inthe embodiment of the invention herein specifically described Without departing from or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention or any features thereof, and nothing herein shall be construed as limitations upon the invention, its concept or structural embodiment as to the whole or any part thereof.

We claim:

A device for operating a sunshade having louvers pivotally mounted and a strip shiftable longitudinally and pivoted to ends of the louvers and provided with a rack; said device comprising a gear casing, a mounting carried by the casing and adapted to be secured against a side of a window frame and mount the casing transversely of the window frame with one endof the easing abutting the said side of the window frame, a drive shaft and a driven shaft journaled through the casing adjacent opposite ends thereof and extending in opposite directions from opposite sides of the casing, the drive shaft being located between the mounting and the said end of the casing and of a length adapting it to project from the window frame, gearing in the easing for transmitting rotary motion from the drive shaft to the driven shaft, a pinion carried by the driven shaft for meshing with the rack and shifting the strip longitudinally to angularly adjust the louvers when the driven shaft is rotated, and a plate for fitting about and rotatably supporting the outer portion of the driven shaft adapted to be mounted against the window frame and provided with a lip for overlapping the strip and holding its rack in mesh with said pinion.

FRANCES P. REED. EDWARD L. REED. 

